RENTON – Initially, it appeared Perrish Cox might go down in Seahawks lore for having one of the shortest stints on the roster in franchise history.

Signed as a free agent on Nov. 26 as replacement at cornerback in the wake of the reported suspensions of Walter Thurmond and Brandon Browner, he was cut the following day when the team learned that Browner’s appeal might have some legs.

While the quick in-and-out might have seemed perplexing on the outside, Cox said the Seahawks explained their reasoning to him, and told him to hang around just in case.

Wednesday, his patience paid off as Cox was re-signed by the Seahawks when they were forced to put safety Jeron Johnson on injured reserve following his hamstring injury suffered in Sunday’s 19-17 loss at San Francisco. This time, Cox could hang around a while depending on what happens with Browner, whose appeal has yet to be decided and who is still recovering from a groin injury. Browner won’t be able to play this week.

“It was nothing I could control,” Cox said of initially being cut by Seattle. “Being back now is really the only thing (that matters). … There was a reason why they did it, and they talked to me before they did it and gave me a valid reason. I just kept it at that and just went from there.”

Actually, where he first went was his home in Waco, Texas, to celebrate Thanksgiving, something he said that due to football commitments “I hadn’t been able to do for a long time. So that was the great part about it.”

So is making a run at a second straight Super Bowl.

Cox, in his third year out of Oklahoma State, played in all 16 games for the 49ers last year, and then all three in the playoffs, including the Super Bowl loss to the Ravens. He played in nine more for the 49ers this year before being released when the team activated Eric Wright, whom it had signed in the offseason.

That he’s now with the 49ers’ most heated rival, and simply the latest of what have been a handful of players to see time with both teams in recent months, is just part of the business, Cox said.

“This is my new team, so this is where all my love is,” he said.

Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said Cox will add depth at cornerback and also allow the team to use DeShawn Shead more at safety to replace Johnson, who was the team’s backup to Kam Chancellor at strong safety.

Notes

• Free safety Earl Thomas has been labeled by some as a potential defensive player of the year candidate. But with such accolades also comes increased attention from opponents.

Sunday, Thomas said it became obvious to him early in the game that the 49ers “were not throwing it to Area 29 (his uniform number) whatsoever.”

Later, Thomas elaborated on that statement, saying: “Especially in the first half of the season, a lot of teams were throwing it across the middle, testing my discipline, testing everything they saw on film in the past that I didn’t do a good job of. They (the 49ers) just didn’t throw it over the middle. They kind of attacked the perimeter. They were sending receivers to the third level for crackback blocks — you never see that. It caught me off-guard. But after the game, I looked down like it’s a sign of respect. And I’ve got to add that to my repertoire of just knowing how offenses want to take me out of the game and attack.”

Asked how he counters that, Thomas said: “Just really focus on the formation. When I really focus on the formation, it gives me a good indicator of how they want to run or just attack us in general and I can have a head start because I already know what’s coming most of the time. I just put myself in better position to make the play.”

• WR Percy Harvin was one of nine players who did not participate in practice Wednesday again taking a rehab day on his sore hip. Carroll said he did not know when Harvin might return to practice and described his status as “week-to-week.’’